Before Market Opens: 9 essential things to know at 9 am on March 6, 2024

Wall Street indexes closed lower on Tuesday, with weakness in megacap growth companies such as Apple Inc and the chip sector weighing on the Nasdaq ahead of this week’s crop of economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 404.51 points, or 1.04%, to 38,585.32, the S&P 500 lost 52.29 points, or 1.02%, to 5,078.66 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 267.92 points, or 1.65%, to 15,939.59.

Asian equities eased on Wednesday in cautious trading, with Chinese stocks slipping as the lack of big stimulus measures from Beijing disappointed some investors, while gold and bitcoin eased after hitting record highs. Traders are hesitant to place major bets ahead of congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that will be parsed to gauge if the U.S. central bank is ready to start cutting rates. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.21% lower. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.20% as investors took some profit after the index hit record peaks this week. Chinese stocks fell on Wednesday, a day after Beijing set a widely expected 5% growth target for 2024 at a parliament meeting that lacked major stimulus measures. The blue-chip CSI 300 Index fell 0.42% while Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng was 0.73% higher.

On Tuesday, the Indian stock market indices snapped their four-day winning streak and ended lower amid weak global cues. The Sensex fell 195.16 points, or 0.26%, to close at 73,677.13, while the Nifty 50 settled 49.30 points, or 0.22%, lower at 22,356.30.

At 8:15 am, Gift Nifty was trading 4 points or 0.02 percent higher at 22,430, indicating a muted opening for the Indian markets.

Oil prices fell slightly on Wednesday as concerns about demand growth in China, the world’s biggest crude importer, clashed with signs of supply tightness amid output cuts by major producers. Prices were also supported by a weaker US dollar which helps demand for buyers paying in other currencies. Brent crude futures fell 13 cents to $81.91 a barrel by 0045 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 11 cents to $78.04 a barrel.

Bitcoin hit a record high on Tuesday, fueled by investors pouring money into US spot exchange-traded crypto products and the prospect that global interest rates may fall. The world’s largest cryptocurrency hit a high of $69,202, topping November 2021’s all-time peak of $68,999.99. Investor interest has increased since the Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 spot bitcoin ETFs in late January.

Gold prices surged to their lifetime highs amid a higher probability of the US Federal Reserve starting to cut interest rates from June, while geopolitical concerns supported the gains. On the MCX, the April futures of gold jumped more than ₹800 per 10 grams to cross the ₹65,000 mark on Tuesday. Prices were higher for the fourth consecutive session.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth ₹574.28 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹1,834.61 crore worth of stocks on March 5, provisional data from the NSE showed.

The Indian rupee ended barely changed on Tuesday, even as most Asian currencies slipped, pressured by an uptick in U.S. bond yields. The rupee closed at 82.8950, unchanged from its closing level in the previous session. The rupee hovered in a tight band between 82.89 and 82.9275 throughout the session.

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Published: 06 Mar 2024, 08:27 AM IST